1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates generally to a non-linear beverage dispenser that offers two or more points of dispense for a plurality of concurrent users. The non-linear beverage dispenser provides the flexibility of products served, configurations, and flexibility/ease of use and may be configured to dispense blended ice drinks, smoothies, carbonated soft drinks, juices and teas and combinations of them.
2. Description of the Related Art
Currently restaurants serve a variety of beverages such as carbonated drinks and non-carbonated drinks. The state of the art beverage dispensers is such that each different type of beverage served is generally provided from its own dispensing machine that is dedicated to that type of beverage. For example, a restaurant serving juice beverages and smoothies would provide two different beverage dispensers, one for dispensing the juice beverages and one for serving the smoothies. Similarly, a restaurant serving cold soda beverages and hot beverages such as tea, coffee and hot chocolate would provide two separate beverage dispensers, one for the cold soda beverages and one for the hot beverages.
Having separate beverage dispensers for each type of beverage has several disadvantages, both for the restaurant establishment and for the user/operator. With respect to the restaurant establishment, the disadvantages include the need for sufficient counter and/or floor space to accommodate the individual footprint of each beverage dispenser. Also, for the restaurant establishment and the user/operator, having separate beverage dispensers for each type of beverage offered for sale requires the user/operator to move between beverage dispensers machines in order to dispense different types of beverages. This is inconvenient for both the user (consumer) and operator (restaurant establishment employees), providing for wasted time and effort. Separate dispensing machines also lead to additional problems, such as more service calls, increased preventative maintenance and calibration and the need to store and have available extra spares parts.
In addition to the dispensing limitations of conventional beverage dispensing machines, above, another problem with these dispensers is that each can accommodate only one user/operator at a time. Referring to FIG. 1, a beverage dispensing machine 10 currently available has a straight linear dispensing front with a length 12 of 30 inches that does not allow sufficient room for more than one user 14 to use beverage dispensing machine 10 at the same time. Each user/operator must wait his “turn” at the beverage dispenser to dispense a beverage. The average user has a shoulder width 16 of 18 inches. Accordingly, a beverage dispensing machine having a length of 36 inches would be required at least to permit two users to use the beverage dispensing machine at the same time. This situation renders the use of conventional beverage dispensing machines not efficient as could be, especially in the environment of fast food restaurants.
Thus, a need exists for a beverage dispenser that overcomes the shortcomings caused by having separate beverage dispensing machines for each type of beverage. The present disclosure provides a dispensing machine that overcomes the shortcomings and satisfied those needs.